The Therapist May See You Anytime, Anywhere

The very idea of psychotherapy seems to defy the instant-access, video screen chatter of popular digital culture.

Not for long, if some scientists have their way. In the past few years researchers have been testing simple video-game-like programs aimed at relieving common problems like anxiety and depression. These recent results have been encouraging enough that investigators are now delivering the programs on smartphones — therapy apps, in effect, that may soon make psychological help accessible anytime, anywhere, whether in the grocery store line, on the bus or just before a work presentation.

A sample of research articles exploring biases in early visual processing, action-inaction framing and escalation of commitment, socioemotional interventions for institutionally reared chimpanzees, and prenatal stress as both a risk and opportunity… More